Monday, November 26, 2007

A few weeks ago, The Mayor The C. Ray Jefferson Nagin and I plastered the people of New Orleans for their low turnout at the polls.

C. to the Ray said this:

"...[I]t was kind of offensive to me, because here I am bustin' my butt every day and all I'm asking citizens to do is plug into the democratic process."

I backed him up with all my might:

"We have made no sacrifices while the Mayor, out of the goodness of his heart, has revolutionized this city into something truly special. All he asks is that we go out and vote, that we gather as a community to give thanks to our elected officials, let them know that we're aware of the great job that they're doing and that we're grateful to be living in a city with such ethical, transparent, efficient, progressive, forward-thinking, and aggressive municipal stewardship...."

"...Sometimes, things are going so good that we don't realize that it's time to vote. We forget. We're to busy getting massages and playing golf, too busy going on picnics and flying kites, too busy living the luxurious lives that the Mayor has secured for us. We forget to sacrifice the back nine to say thanks."

"If we lived in one of those faraway lands inundated by hardship and mismanagement, we wouldn't be so smug to sit in our easy chairs and say to ourselves, 'you know, things are going so well, I don't need to vote this year.' That's what happened here. We're just too complacent, too content, too happy with the way things are going. I guess it's a good problem to have, I just think we should be more thankful to the Mayor; he deserves every ounce of credit he can get."

Well today the Times-Picayune has uncovered something that questions the Mayor the C. Ray Nagin's character. I would like to defend my friend.

The Mayor, it would seem was one of those that did not vote in the very October 20th primary for which he blasted his neighbors' low turnout.

I imagine a lot of you bloggers are going to be naive about all this. You will paste the mayor for being a "hypocrite" or an "idiot" or an "embarrassment."

But I ask of you: No he's not!

The Mayor the C. Ray Nagin LISTENS to the people. He doesn't IMPOSE his will on them by choosing for them... he doesn't select his fellow office holders, he is happy to work with the choices of his loyal followers....

You see, my little friends, the Mayor is not supposed to vote. It's probably in the City Charter. It would represent a conflict of interest for the Mayor to exercise the responsibilities of a common citizen. If he behaved like one of us, wouldn't he then not be busting his butt? Wouldn't he then be banned from riding in municipal tanks?

There needs to be a SEPARATION OF POWERS, okay?

If the Mayor does what citizens do, if he answers to citizens, it represents a conflict of interest. He would be abusing his power!

----oh but i thought us bloggers supported separate branches----

Given that we bloggers both vote AND live in Orleans parish, maybe it is we that are the hypocrites.

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God, it seems like the media here wants our Mayor to pack up and move to Dallas... Then he wouldn't even be eligible to vote in Orleans Parish as a regular citizen... Bet they'd still find a way to criticize him for something.... jeez.